Michelle Obama Put Away Her Thigh-High Balenciaga Boots Last Night and Showed Love For This Emerging Designer
The last time Michelle Obama wore an electric color on stage during her book tour was her now-famous Balenciaga boot moment, when she nearly shut down the Internet after chatting with Sarah Jessica Parker in a yellow dress and a pair of sparkly neon yellow thigh-high boots designed by Demna Gvasalia for the French house. Mrs. Obama’s stylist Meredith Koop has been orchestrating these kinds of monumental and daring designer fashion moments for the former first lady ever since she was in the White House. But Koop has also dressed Obama in younger emerging designers, all of whom were virtually unheard of in the world of politics but whom she believed in and Mrs. O was more than happy to support. Last night during a book tour stop in Texas, Obama shed light on another up-and-comer in the industry named Felicia Noel.
Noel’s New York-based label Fe Noel is all about empowering women, specifically women of color. Her last collection featured a print designed in collaboration with the artist Harmonia Rosales depicting the African goddess Oshun as Venus. The idea was to shift the traditional Eurocentric narrative of Renaissance art and put black women in a place of power and prominence. Noel’s point-of-view as a woman and as a designer falls directly in line with Obama’s expressed beliefs and indeed, what she represents herself. Naturally, Noel was thrilled when Koop reached out to her. According to the designer, the stylist started following Fe Noel on Instagram after Noel’s cousin wrote Koop an email suggesting that she check out the brand. “She contacted us after a few weeks and requested a custom look for Mrs. O’s book tour, one based off of our ‘Liz’ top and rust colored sheer pants,” Noel recalls. “We collaborated with Mrs. O’s personal tailor, who has the former first lady’s exact body replicated in mannequin form.”
The resulting ensemble was a bright orange pair of non-sheer trousers and a matching wrap top with ties on the sleeves and a long train cascading down the back. “This meant so much to my team and my family,” Noel says of the moment Obama walked on stage last night in her design. “In fact, the news traveled so quickly to the small island of Grenada and specifically to my grandmother, the matriarch of our family.”
“I’ve long admired Meredith [Koop] and her ability to push the envelope with Mrs. O’s style. It was a personal goal to see her wear Fe Noel,” she added. “I’m now woven into history at a time when I am and my brand are ‘Becoming’ too!”
